A Player's Trust
by Akira Shinji
Summary: After being shot down in Tipsy Tose Hall for a reason she can't remember, Skye is forced to partake in Shibuya's frantic Reaper's Game...She'll meet new people, but will she be able to survive the seven days and piece together the reason for her death?
1. Day 1: Sky and Earth

**A/N:** Well, here is the obligated author's note announcing "hello, this is my first fanfic on :D". Yup, got that over with anyways.

Just to let you know, this is an _Original Charater-based_story, and it takes place two years before the original The World Ends With You. There are some canon characters in here (as you'll see at the end of this day...), and maybe some added cameos, if I feel like it. Oh, and it goes without saying...but this fic is riddled with spoilers.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

_Flashing lights. Gunshots. A great abyss._

_These were the things my senses felt. In this stretch of darkness, my eyesight was worthless; I could only rely on my ears, my touch, and the things I knew instinctively. I didn't like what I was feeling…My heart told me it was a horrible place, thriving on my fear, my dread, my hopelessness._

_And finally, the blurred darkness gave way to light and life. But when all was clear again, I was struck with shock to find myself in…_

"The scramble crossing?!" I exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the monstrous crowd. This didn't make any sense; only a moment ago, I had been on the other side of Shibuya.

_No, that's not right,_ I corrected myself mentally. _That dark expanse…_The fog of sleep was clearing out of my mind, and I pushed myself off of the hard asphalt to sit up.

Wait. Asphalt?

What the hell was I doing on the road? More importantly, why had no one bothered to wake me up and point out that I was sleeping in a crowded crosswalk? I rolled to the side to dodge a busy-looking businessman who rushed by. His foot had come dangerously close to my head. Jumping up, I called, "Watch it!" He didn't look back at me, and no one turned around to stare.

There was something horribly off with this scenario. Foreboding loomed over me. I wasn't fully conscious of what I was doing, and I yelled a little louder, "Hey! Did any of you see that? Can you hear me?!"

Of the seventy-something people in the scramble crossing, not one answered.

And I remembered everything now. The echoes of voices in the abyss had been whispering something in my ears…

I was trapped in the Reaper's Game, my life in the hands of hunters who would pick me off. And I literally meant my life. The memory of gunshots rang through my head again. _I was dead._

* * *

**Day One  
Sky and Earth**

The basic rules of this life-or-death "game" were fairly simple: find another Player and partner up, or risk the consequences. Those, by the way, weren't pleasant at all: erasure by the Noise. Truthfully, I had no idea what Noise were…but "erasure" was the key word here.

That left the whole partner thing. How was I supposed to know the difference between the living and the non-living? I looked at my hands: no weird, zombie-like withers or anything of the sort. No greenish tinge. (Technically speaking, I _was_ an undead…)

Just then I heard a _beep-beep_ and felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled out a cell phone, sky-blue in color and very sleek. There was a sticker with the words "RENT ONLY" on the back; in smaller print it said "Distributed by Shibuya Reapers." Ha, ha. Very funny. Well it was nice to know that _someone_ trusted me with my own cell. I flipped it open to see a bolded message appear.

**NEW TEXT MESSAGE!  
Press OK to Continue**

…Innocent enough. I pressed "OK."

_First Mission:  
__Make your way to 104 Building. Time limit: 40 minutes. Failure to complete the mission will result in erasure.  
-The Reapers_

Knowing that no one would hear me regardless (and therefore no one would perceive me as…_insane_) I yelled out, "What the _hell?_ You guys can keep the phone, and keep your stalker texts to yourselves, as well!" I looked down the road to where a large building stood; the numbers 1-0-4 hung at the top. Pfft. As if it was really that hard to walk a few minutes away, anyways—

"_Ouch!_" A heart-stopping pain pulsed through my right hand, like someone was etching writing into my palm with a razor. At first, I ignored it; I knew I wouldn't like what I saw. After a moment's hesitation, I caught a glimpse of my hand…

39:51, emblazoned in bright red. And the number ticked down with every second.

_What in the _hell_…?_

"Ow!" I cried out again, as yet something else had struck me; there was a large scratch on my arm. I spun around, about to defend myself, but I was greeted with the sight of…frogs. In Shibuya? No way, I thought at first. But I was a sucker for frogs.

"Oh, wow. Adorable frogs. Soooo dangerous," I chuckled. But on second glance, they looked more like the frogs you'd find around an abandoned toxic waste dump. They were a shade of sickly green, had jagged red markings, glowing blood-red eyes and—the most startling feature—black-and-scarlet claws that extended a good foot or two out of their webbed feet.

I examined them, wondrous, until one leaped right onto me, claws extended and slashing. The razor-like nails sunk deep into my arm, and then it soared off again—after grazing me with its rear claws. I shrieked and clutched my arm. It flew back up for a third strike with its super-powered legs.

I would have been toast…if an arrow hadn't pierced straight through it at that moment. It made an awful screeching noise and fizzled out of existence. "Silly. You can't take out the Noise if you haven't made a pact with another Player," a voice said. Three more arrows were shot. They took care of the other frogs.

So _those_ were the Noise…

I turned around to thank my saviors, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw two kids who couldn't have been more than eleven years old. Their physical features were alike in every aspect; they stared up at me with their large brown eyes. Their dark hair mirrored each other, spiking in opposite directions and falling flat in the same way. They both wore necklaces, a moon dangling off the girl's and a sun catching the light on the boy's. They boy, holding a sword, looked around, inspecting the area; the girl, putting away her bow and stashing her spare arrows, checked to make sure I wasn't too badly hurt.

I said, rather awkwardly, "Thanks." You're not saved by preteen twins every day.

They boy sheathed his sword. "No problem," he replied. "If you're trying to find a partner, you'd better hurry. They're getting picked off one by one at Hachiko."

The Statue of Hachiko! Of course, the monument built in memory of the legendary dog was the typical meeting spot for most people. "Okay! Thanks again. Nice meeting you." I waved and ran down the left road, searching for my soon-to-be partner.

* * *

"Any Players out there?" Geez, I was yelling a lot today. All for the greater good, so whatever…My timer read 31:46 now.

But I didn't need to yell. _He_ was there, in plain view. As soon as I spotted him, the chaos surrounding me melted away.

It was a boy around my age, with tousled, dirty-blond hair stuffed underneath a blue beanie. His puffy, red-orange vest flared out over his black-sleeved white t-shirt, and his jeans hung loosely from his legs. His boots were grounded to the earth. The ensemble of Wild Boar and Tigre Punks brand clothing would have made him seem like a very intimidating figure, if his intense green eyes weren't focused on the Noise that had cornered him.

I did the first thing that came to mind—I ran to him, mentally claiming him. "You!" I shouted, catching his attention. No time to remember the old "don't talk to strangers" rule. "Forge a pact with me…please!" At least I remembered my manners.

Relief entered his eyes. "I accept."

There was a flash of brilliant blue light, and energy surged through my body. The pact was complete.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see another Player," he said.

"Same here," I replied. "Let's beat this Noise down. I have to pay them back for something!"

"You know how to use your pins, right?" He tossed me a red button with a flame pattern on it. "Wear it! It's how you fight."

I caught it rather clumsily and put it on, no time to think about how much pins were _so_ not my style. "How…wait! How do you expect me to attack with a _pin_?"

"Use your imagination," he said quickly. "They're coming!"

I dodged as a frog jumped to me. I wasn't falling for that again…I looked at the pin again. _A flame…_

Thinking fast, I imagined a fire burning my target to a crisp. He _said_ use my imagination, right? Nevertheless I nearly jumped back as I saw the fire actually materialize before my eyes. Focusing, I dragged it to one of the frogs with my mind. In a few seconds, it disappeared. Before I knew it, they were all gone.

"You…catch on pretty fast," my new partner commented after the battle. "I was afraid I had been too vague with my description…I'm new to all of this."

"Hey, join the club," I said cheerfully, holding out my hand. "My name is Skye, by the way."

He took it shyly, and shook it. "Terran," he said. "Uh, that is…it's my name. Yup." Very graceful, I noted.

"Nice to meet you. So, seven days, huh?" There was something really ominous about that…Seven days. I didn't know if I was just being paranoid because of that one horror movie…the Ring, or whatever it was called.

"Yup." He glanced at his hand—the timer, I presumed. "Hey, should we be going to 104 yet?"

"Oh! Right," I laughed. "Nearly forgot. Let's get going."

* * *

"Made it!" I exclaimed as we reached the building. There was a flash of light, and when I checked my hand again, the timer had disappeared. I gazed back up at the large store.

Up close, it seemed to loom over us, a big difference from just seeing it afar from the scramble. My eyes widened at the sheer height.

"It's not that tall, compared to some skyscrapers," Terran said, guessing at the thoughts in my head. "You act like you've never been to Shibuya…"

I shook my head. "I've only seen certain parts," I replied. "I know some places, like the scramble and Hachiko. But that's all."

He gave me a pitying look. "I thought it was every girl's dream to shop at 104 and those other boutiques for clothes."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Nah. I prefer to make my own style." I fingered my pleated skirt and my hood; they were homemade, not brand clothing that I had seen my friends admire at school.

_My friends…_

"Well, don't worry about getting lost!" Terran reassured me, waving his hand (and my train of thought with it). "I come here a lot. Although I'll admit I usually hang around Udagawa."

Oh, well _that_ was reassuring. Maybe I should have tried to explore the world a bit more before I kicked the can.

"Hey! It's you again!" I turned around when I heard a familiar voice. It was the twins again, and the boy was waving. The girl smiled, although it was a cool, catlike smile. The boy rushed up to us, the girl following slower and calmer.

"You know them, too?" Terran asked me. "They taught me how to use the pins."

"They saved me as I was about to become frog food," I explained to him. "Good thing they did, too. Hi!" I greeted them.

"Hey!" he greeted us, almost as if we were old friends. "Glad to see you made it. Oh, but I don't think we introduced ourselves properly. I'm Sol."

"And I'm Luna," the girl said. "You might've figured it out, but I'm his sister. I have to make sure this dummy stays in line." Her brown eyes shone with a steely glint, the kind you only found in strict teachers.

"Aww, harsh," Sol protested.

"I'm Skye. And this is…" I nudged my partner, who I had noticed was attempting to shy away without attracting attention.

"I'm Terran," he nearly stammered. "Nice to—"

"Whoa! _Seriously?"_ Sol exclaimed. "That's a sweet name! You know, Terran is also the name of one of the three races in StarCraft—"

"You'll have to excuse my brother," Luna quickly cut in, seeing Terran shift strangely. "He's a huge StarCraft geek. Keep that in mind if he ever says anything weird…"

I looked at the two again, not focusing on their looks, but their personalities. And it was so hard to see them as related. Sol was the image of innocence, of being carefree; Luna had an air of maturity and brilliance around her. _I suppose Shibuya's got room for all types,_ Skye figured.

"So! Six more days left, then," Terran said, who seemed to have gotten over his timidity. "Although, something tells me the missions will get a lot harder than 'go to 104.'"

* * *

"Do I really have to do this?" the orange-haired Reaper sighed. "Seriously, I just hand out missions and wait for that happy, happy day…Day 7." He waved around his lollipop, bored. "You higher-ups give me a promotion to Officer without telling me, and then right away you bump me up to Game Master. It's unheard of."

"The Composer wills it," the Reaper's companion replied, his shades reflecting the light in a way that made him seem more mysterious. "And if He wants it a certain way, as the Conductor it is my responsibility to carry it out."

"Whatever. I'd rather be out in the UG as a regular old Harrier." He shrugged. "Ah, well. I guess a job is what you make of it, right, Mr. Kitaniji?"

Mr. Kitaniji chuckled. "If you say so. Well, with that said, I sure hope you make this an interesting Game…Koki Kariya."

**End of Day 1**

* * *

Well, that wasn't too bad, was it? (It was kind of long, and I hated writing some parts, but oh well...) Tried to catch all the typos/errors, I hope I did okay.

Cue Day 2...


	2. Day 2: Reaper's Game, Reaper's Rules

**A/N:** Wow...This chapter is even longer than the first one. I need to restrain myself when I'm adding random fluff. Anyways, I'd like to add a little "thanks for reading" in advance. Hope I haven't made too many mistakes. :) If you can, please R&R.

_

* * *

_

_So I really hadn't been dreaming. All the things that happened yesterday…all that chaos was real. These crowds still saw nothing of me, and of who knows how many other people. In between all the people, I could spot Terran sitting on the curb of the Scramble Crossing, waiting._

_Waiting for…what?_

* * *

**Day Two  
Reaper's Game, Reaper's Rules**

"We should seriously be catching up on points, man," a figure groaned half-heartedly. He flexed his scythe-like wings and continued, "I mean, last Game I got a whopping six Players erased. How many are there on Day One, like, three hundred?" His wings twitched in annoyance. "Get off your lazy-ass butt, Makija."

"Aw, shut it, Daisuke," the man named Makija snapped. "And I told you to call me Max. God, I hate my name." He yawned heavily.

"Weird names for weird people," Daisuke retorted, grinning. He pointed out towards the stretch of streets and buildings that was Shibuya from the rooftop they were sitting on. "The Players are calling out to us. Look at all the opportunities!"

Max rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, those 'opportunities' will still be there by Day Seven…maybe. I love going on sprees at the end of the week, it means we can kick back and relax in the middle—"

"Yeah, whatever," Daisuke sniffed. "You're no fun anymore." He went to stand on the rail at the edge of the roof. "Stay here if you want, I'm going out. You know, to do my _job._" And he dived down to the ground.

Max sighed, and a smile tugged at his lips. "You can't work without me, silly," he said softly. "We're best friends for life…or maybe it's death." He jumped after him, pushing off with his wings.

* * *

_Beep-beep._ Mission time. From the discussions at 104 yesterday, I gathered that every day had a certain mission to be fulfilled. I reached into my pocket for my phone. Flipping it open, I read:

_Second Mission:  
__Free Molco from the Noise. Time limit: 90 minutes. Failure to complete the mission will result in erasure.  
-The Reapers_

A flash of light, a burning sensation. There was the timer.

"Any idea what it means?" Terran asked, coming over to me. "You never know if there's a double meaning in there somewhere."

"It's only the second day," I pointed out. "They wouldn't be that tricky yet…But we'll find out the specifics when we get to Molco, anyways." I paused. "Umm, where is that, again?"

Terran snorted; he obviously thought this was very funny. "A _girl_ is asking me where Molco is…"

"Just pretend I'm a tourist from America or something," I muttered impatiently. Although I sounded grumpy, I couldn't help feeling at least semi-amused. I had always been teased that I really _did_ look American, or at least foreign, with my natural blond hair and blue eyes (my mother was only half-Japanese; maybe I got the gene from her other side). "Just as long as we get there."

"Am I a tourist guide now?" Terran sighed with exaggeration.

"Well, how else am I going to find my way around Shibuya if you don't tell me what all these little places are?" I huffed.

"All right, all right…" He led us down the road to the right. "This is the Shibu Department Store." He examined a poster for discounted suits: "_The Regal Presence,"_ he said aloud. "_For sale starting at 239,000 yen."_ Oh geez. That was more than I would see with three years at a part-time job. He continued, "Pegaso brand holds the reigns here. They're all business and luxury, and _way_ expensive…Meaning, this isn't the type of place we'd want to shop. Unless we wanted some new pins in our arsenal." He coughed. "Well, _your_ arsenal, anyways…"

"Huh?" I said, confused. "Weren't you…I mean…what do you mean, you can't use pins?" Wasn't he the one who explained to me how to use them?

"They…don't work for me." He scuffed his shoes on the pavement. "I don't know why…It's almost like they refuse to act properly. But it's all right, I have a psych that works for me. Let's move on."

But as we ran, we hit something blocking the street. "Ouch!" I shouted as I ran right into it. A pattern of crystalline glass appeared where I had bumped into it, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"A wall?" Terran said, rubbing his nose (he had run face-first into it). "Well, great, this is the only way to Molco—"

But he trailed off mid-sentence. "Hey, Terran?" I said, trying to get him to snap back to reality. In reply, he pointed at something in the distance. I looked in that direction.

A man in a red sweater stood motionlessly, his face obscured by the shadow of his hood. I didn't need to see his eyes to tell that he was looking at _us._

"He can see us!" I exclaimed, pointing out the obvious (to which Terran sighed). "Come on, Terran, maybe he can tell us about the wall."

"I don't think that's a good idea—" he began, but I was already dragging him to the hooded man.

"Hey, can you hear me? Are you part of the Game, too?" I asked him with over-the-top cheerfulness. I could feel a little wellspring of hope suffuse inside me. Perhaps we _weren't_ as alone as we had first thought…

He looked down at me, but didn't say anything for a moment. Then: "Do you want to pass this wall?"

Um, I guessed that was a subtle "yes" to both of my questions. "Sure," I answered nervously. Creep.

"I thought so. You'll have to fight two wolf Noise to get past. Do that, and then we'll discuss the wall."

"Noise?" I hadn't seen any Noise since yesterday. "And just where do you expect us to find Noise?"

The hooded man sighed. "Geez…Hatched a bit late, didn't ya…" He grabbed a small book out of his pocket. "Dammit, the management never told me how to explain to clueless Players." He flipped through it quickly. "'Dark and mysterious'…okay." He announced dramatically, "_Lies are spied with the naked eye. You must look for what is hidden in plain sight._"

"…" Terran and I stared at each other. I mouthed, "Is he for real?" and he silently replied, "He's a nutter."

"Okay," Terran said after this soundless exchange. "And just what was that supposed to mean?"

"No good? Umm…" No doubt he was slowly panicking under all that red now. "Er…_To hear the thoughts of the oblivious, that is where your answer lies_?"

Our totally confused faces looked at him in utter bewilderment. "Ahh…er." He flipped through his handbook again (I saw this time that it was titled "The Reaper's Game for Dummies") before bursting out, "The Player Pin, you twits! _Honestly_, I know Bigbansprogs who could have figured that out!"

If that was supposed to be insulting (or spark some kind of sudden realization), it didn't have too much effect. But now that he mentioned it, I remembered something else Sol and Luna had told us back at 104: Along with the six pins that were given to us, there was an extra non-combat pin called the Player Pin. We had never tried it out; if we couldn't fight with it, why bother? It looked cool, though. I unpocketed it and marveled at it: black, with the Reaper's logo in white (I recognized it from the sticker on my phone). Then I looked back up at the hooded man and said, "This? Oh, thanks for the tip. Except we don't know how to use it. So if you don't mind explaining that, too…"

He muttered something that sounded a lot like "If you were going any slower, you'd be going backwards." Louder, he said, "You just have to concentrate on it! Concentration and hard work is the key to success…"

Great advice, Captain Corny. We'll work on that last bit. I pulled Terran aside and said, "Couldn't hurt to give it a try, right?"

He shrugged and pulled his pin out. I stared at my own, trying to…what was it? Oh yeah, "concentrate." I squinted and focused in on it, and fiddled with it in between my thumb and index finger—

"Crap!" It had slipped in between my fingers. I dived down to catch it, and felt it drop into my outstretched hand.

And then the strangest thing happened.

Everything went dark. A thousand different voices streamed into my head, coming from everywhere and all at once. Each told a story: how _her_ boyfriend had dumped her for another woman, or how _he_ had accidentally used the girl's bathroom at school—and everyone had seen him, or of how _her_ boss had given her a rather hefty raise at work. I neither knew nor cared who "he" or "her" were, but they also asked questions: should I buy my favorite singer's new album, or wait for a sale; will my parents let me throw that huge graduation party; should I get that Wild Boar hat, or get the similar-looking one from J of the M…There were so many voices, I could barely hear myself think.

_I was listening in on Shibuya's thoughts…_

More importantly, though, I could see many red floating…oh my god, were those _animal skulls?_

"Skye? Skye! Snap out of it!"

Shocked to hear my partner's voice, I dropped the pin; the world returned to normal, and the skulls disappeared. "Holy crap. Terran, I get what he meant now."

* * *

After a very grueling tutorial from me to Terran and a very drawn-out game of hide-and-seek with the wolf Noise, we had finally gotten past the wall.

Oh, and if you were wondering, past the wall was a series of cute shops. A large building split one of the roads in half. Girls were noisily storming in and out of it.

"This is Cadoi City," Terran explained. "Home of Natural Puppy products. The gentle, sweet-girl look is what they go for. You know, cute and flirty." He pointed to the farther street, on the other side of the building. "That's Towa Records down there, but we'll be heading the other way to get to Molco." He started to walk down the street closer to us, away from Towa Records.

I followed, saying, "Gosh, Terran, and yesterday you had me starting to worry that you didn't know Shibuya too well!"

"Ha, I know it kind of well, but this little trip helps to jog my memory a bit," he replied. "Well, this is Molco. Sheep Heavenly and Tigre Punks lovers come here to shop." He pointed to a building at the end of the road. "See that over there? That's the actual shop, but sometimes it doubles as a convention hall." He looked around. "Anyway, now that we're here, we should start scouting."

We used the Player Pin to scan the area, but to no avail; there was no Noise in the area. Well, that was pointless.

"Hey, what gives?" I said as I pulled out of the scan. "Why send us to Molco to kill some Noise, then leave us hanging?"

"Aww, didja hear that, Max? We've disappointed one of the Players," sniggered a voice a voice above me.

"How horrible of us," drawled another voice, this one more bored and relaxed-sounding. "We'll live in misery because of this."

"T-Terran?" I called, getting nervous. These guys didn't sound nice. Then I controlled my voice. "Hey, Terran! Can you come over here? I think we might have company."

Just as I said that, two people dropped out of the sky, in front of me. Probably the most noticeable feature about these two was…oh, I dunno…their big, black, pointed wings which protruded out of their backs. The one on the left was shorter; he wore an oversized orange hoodie with a bat on it, khaki shorts, and shoes with more bats on them. (He looked very _bat_tered. Har har har.) His red bangs stuck out from underneath a blue, flat-topped hat, but the rest of his short hair was blond.

The other one, in my opinion, looked a lot more like Terran: dirty-blond hair (geez, did _everyone_ in Japan have unnatural hair?) that spiked into different directions; he wore a near-vacant expression on his face. He had a short black vest with a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath, and baggy black pants. I made a mental note to get him an appointment with the closest clothing coordinator, because unlike Terran, he looked like he really needed the extra spice…

"You guys…" Terran said, as he came running up. "You're Reapers." He stared at the one on the right, the one I had just mentally bashed. "You're Max, right?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but I cut in with "How do you know him?" while at the same time the shorter one exclaimed, "Shyeah, he's Max! And—"

"_Really_, Dai, I think I can answer for myself," Max said, rolling his eyes.

"Dai?" I repeated, trying not to snort. "Like 'die'?"

"That's DAISUKE to you!" he burst out. "And don't you forget it."

"Uh-huh. Consider it memorized," I replied tartly. "Where the heck are the Noise? I'm assuming the mission mail wasn't just spam."

"Of course it wasn't _spam,_" Max retorted. "You're just really slow. The mission was already completed by another pair, about half an hour ago. Those twins…"

Twins? It must have been Sol and Luna…I glanced down at my hand. The timer was gone already.

"Catch on quickly, don't you?" he said, eyeing my hand. "Yeah, not everyone does the mission, because only one pair needs to get it done, when it comes down to it. But when _everyone_ thinks like that…"

"Everyone gets erased," Daisuke finished. "Last week, the Game ended two days early because everyone was fighting over who would complete what mission, and…well…" He drew his finger across his throat. "They kind of ran out of time."

"What a touching story," I said, rolling my eyes. "So what are we supposed to do now, huh?"

Daisuke narrowed his eyes. "Well, if you're really bored…I'm sure me and Max can find something to…_entertain_ you."

Before I could figure out what that meant, a handful of frogs had come out of nowhere and leapt at us. Cursing, I jumped out of the way just in time and sent waves of fire at them, followed up with bolts of lightning. A round of energy bullets finished them off in no time. Wow. It must have been a new record for "fastest Noise erasure time."

"Gotta say, I'm impressed," Max remarked rather grudgingly before leaping into the air and hovering there. "Not many Players can react that quickly…" He flew away, Daisuke following right after him (and I could see that the latter was sulking).

"GET BACK HERE, YOU BASTARDS!" Geez, what a bunch of jerks, setting a bunch of Noise on us with no warning…I raised my fist at them.

"Let 'em go, Skye," Terran said calmly. "No way we can take on full-fledged Reapers." Ugh. He had a point, I suppose. But I was wondering…

"Terran, did you know that Max guy?" I asked him cautiously.

He looked alarmed for the slightest fraction of a second, then shut his eyes. "Yeah, I saw him around at school. When I was living, you know. It's just…he died. Crashed his car the day he got his license…or so I heard," he added a little too quickly. "That was two months ago."

There was something about the way he told me all this—and I didn't know if I was just being paranoid—that made me think he wasn't telling me something. Surely he wouldn't look that guilty about the death of someone he _barely knew_…Shaking my head, I said, "Well, we'll probably be seeing them sometime soon. Reapers probably find it amusing to poke fun at poor, pathetic Players like us." I draped my hand across my forehead dramatically. Well, at least Terran looked less depressed with my dumb antics, anyways. I punched his arm lightly, then proceeded to drag him into the store to force him into a shopping spree.

* * *

"Nice day's work, huh, Max?" Daisuke sighed contentedly, plopping down onto the ratty sofa. "Erased twelve Players…but we could've done more…Max? Hey, Max!"

Max hadn't been listening; he had been staring out the window with a thoughtful expression. "Yeah. Whatever you say," he mumbled.

Daisuke sighed again, this time with a hint of annoyance. "I thought so. I think being under a roof on our breaks makes your head go slower…So Max," he said, more cheerfully, "did you know that one guy from Molco or something? Blue beanie, green eyes."

"Yeah," Max replied quietly. "His name's Terran. Um, he was…a friend of my brother's…But he's not the type to die easily."

"Oh, really? What makes you say that?"

"He had a lot of life. Quiet, yeah, and scared to death of people he didn't know…but Terran was a good kid."

"So, tell me about your brother," Daisuke said abruptly. "He seems so mysterious…You've never told me his name…I've always wanted to see if I could find him in a crowd, based on your description. I still can't believe I've never met him."

Max hesitated for the slightest second. "He would stay shut up in his room whenever you came over. Nothing against you, don't worry. But he loved music." He smiled as he remembered how his brother would always cart around his headphones. "He loved the messages it could give about life…Hell, he loved life itself," he added with a laugh. "But he would always try to close himself off. He told me he was afraid of getting hurt by other people…I think, in the end, his wish to preserve himself emotionally is what destroyed him inside." He waved his hand, as if trying to shoo away the melancholy thoughts. "Anyways, you wouldn't find him in any of Shibuya's crowds. He's an exchange student in the States. Dunno what he'd be doing in Shibuya—"

"Don't be like that!" Daisuke yelled indignantly. "I'm sure that, one day, he'll come back here, and you'll at least be able to see him again." Daisuke smiled brightly at him.

"Y-Yeah," Max muttered, staring out the window again. "Yeah, I'm sure I will."

**End of Day Two**

* * *

Interestingly enough, while I was introducing the Reapers, the song "Back in Black" came on my iPod (I listen to music when I write). I just thought that was hilarious.  
You may have noticed, but I fail both at openers/character names. Sorry.  
And if you're wondering if that last conversation was really all that relevent...well...*shrugs* Nice to have a little background, I think.


End file.
